Coming around the corner and seeing Bear Lake for the first time is always a surprise. They don’t call it the Caribbean of the Rockies for nothing. Such a blue lake.

We stayed at a cute little cabin in Garden City just a short walk from the hot spot in town.

Kathryn exhibiting her masterful packing and preparation to ensure we were all well cared for on the trip.

First item of business, raspberry and huckleberry shakes.

It just so happened we were in town over Raspberry Days. We hung around for the parade.

Kathryn and the kids loading up their serious haul of candy.

Gomp and Grandma Suzie came and stayed with us for the night.

Kind of a chilly and windy day on the lake. Landon drove for a while as we headed on a drive around the south end of the lake.

Eventually the wind died down for a bit and we were able to get out and play for a bit. I took a turn on the air chair.

And we had some swimming and feeding the “fish” some snacks.

And we got the tube out and had some fun whipping the kids around.

It wouldn’t be a proper boating trip without some sort of boat issue. Luckily we’ve already figured out this little quirk and knew what to do when the boat failed to start.

Backseat boys.

Off the lake, it was time again for more shakes!

This place had a really interesting tradition of pinning up dollar bills on the ceiling.

I decorated one to add to the collection. Next time we go back, we’ll have to look for it.

After a few extra hats got stacked on my head, we had an impromptu reenactment of Caps for Sale, narrated by Grandma Suzie and acted out by the kids and me, complete with monkeys in the tree.

After saying goodbyes to Tim and Suzanne, we made some dinner and cooked up some s’mores.

The color changing marshmallows performed much better over real coals than the propane fire. This blue one turned a vibrant green.

And the red one turned a vibrant orange.

Ashley made a “purple” version with a double decker red and blue combo.

The next morning we went to Bloomington Lake. It was a bit of a zoo up there with two family reunions and a couple of other groups. But we still had a fun time enjoying the pretty lake and doing some fishing.

Landon was determined to catch one, and we were pressuring him to pack it up so we could head out. He said he had a good feeling and wanted to do his best ever cast. And wouldn’t you know it, he did catch a fish on that last cast. It wasn’t a whopper, but it was something!

Kathryn exhibited her ever graceful nature and delicately crawled out on the floating log to free a stuck hook…twice.

After descending off the mountain, we headed for the lake and had what turned out to be a really nice day. Definitely the best lake day of the weekend. I pulled out some proper dad motivation and told the kids they had to do something other than ride the tube to earn their shake. And if they successfully did something new, I’d give them 20 bucks. That kicked them into action. That kneeboard has never looked so good.

Landon was first up, overcoming a long-standing fear and conquered the kneeboard, securing both his shake and his $20 prize.

Eliza started off nice and easy on the kneeboard to earn her shake. Then she wanted to try for the $20 with the wakeboard. After a couple of tries, she did it and got up. It was a short wild ride, but she did it and locked in her cash reward.

Ashley tried several times on the double skis, but there were too big and unwieldy. She tried the wakeboard a couple times, but was too tired by that point. So, she came back in to rest and I hopped out to show the kids how to do it.

Kathryn hopped in and took a turn on the wakeboard.

After that she surprised us all when she asked me to get the slalom ski out and said she was going for the 20 bucks. Yes ma’am! Each try she made progress getting closer and closer. Then, she popped out of the water and we all went wild. Go babe!

Zoey earned her shake by excellent cheering and cuteness.

Ashley’s turn again. Attempt three for the $20 prize. The goal was a 360 trick on the kneeboard. She was locked in and dedicated. It took many attempts lasting through two drone batteries, but in the end, she got it, and I got the shot!

Here’s a little video montage from the drone shots.

Drone shots at Bear Lake are the best. I think I might print this out big.

Family photo time.

All the towels laid out to dry. And off to get the shakes.

That night the final Raspberry Days activity before the wrap up fireworks was a light-show boat parade put on by the yacht club. This was the view from our place.

Sunday was a little wild. We made a super delicious french toast and fresh blueberry syrup breakfast. We made it to church on time and found 6 seats all together in the 932 person capacity (and nearly full to capacity) visitor mega branch. And then we came back and got everything all packed up and out of the place with a minute to spare.

All was well when we got home, and the chickens were so nice to replenish our egg supply while we were gone. School starts this week. Happy last days of Summer Break.

Adventure Awaits in Colorado. Oh yes it does.

Road trip time! Listening to The Hobbit on our drive while Ashley worked on her crocheting.

Longest curly fry ever at the Arby’s in Grand Junction Colorado.

After making it to the mountains, we drove straight to Clear Lake to meet up with Stan, Kevin and, their families. The marmots and pikas were all over the place on the drive.

The truck bed was at 100% capacity, while still being able to close the cover.

The wildflowers were incredible! The fishing was fun, but only Stan had any real luck. Go figure.

After leaving the lake, we drove to our camp spot nestled into the forest partway up Corkscrew Gulch and unloaded all our gear and set things up. Since campfires weren’t permitted due to fire restrictions, we brought along a propane campfire which was a big hit.

We ate well on the trip, taking turns cooking breakfasts and dinners.

Thursday’s adventure was driving the Alpine Loop. There were nearly constant incredible views.

We drove up to Hurricane Pass at an incredible 13,200 feet, and then some of us hiked the short stint up to Hurricane Peak, sitting at 13,447 feet.

Meanwhile, Eliza was a superstar cousin and entertained  the littles with a very long round of Trot Trot to Boston.

Frisco Mill

Animas Forks ghost town

Back at camp, we had s’mores with color changing marshmallows, which were mentioned as a highlight of the trip by the kids afterwards.

Thursday night was quite the wet adventure. After we went to bed, the thunder giants went to work, duking it out for several hours with an impressive light and water show. Then Friday morning once the rain stopped, Kevin, Stan, and I took off on a side quest adventure to hike the 14,153-foot Mount Sneffels sitting at the top of Yankee Boy Basin. Stan drove us right to the foot of the mountain on a fun trail that made use of the Land Rover’s capabilities. To get to the peak, we hiked a short approach, and then turned right to hike right up this scree slope up to the saddle.

And then turned left to hike up this tight chute. Then climbed through a little crack, and scrambled up to the peak.

The views were incredible!

Here we all are at the top. Awesome to bag a 14er. The weather was pretty dynamic.

Meanwhile, back at camp, they got a full-on hail storm and pouring rain that flooded the camp site!

But we were enjoying great views on the drive down off the mountain.

Once we got back to camp, we were astonished to see the state of things, especially since the weather was so much nicer over toward Ouray. So, we hustled off the mountain. Kathryn made sandwiches in the truck while we were bouncing back and forth down the trail. We went to the Ouray Hot Springs Pool and enjoyed swimming for the rest of the afternoon. Ashley had a goal to go down the waterslides 20 times to get her money’s worth out of the slide pass.

This was the park and playground right next to the pool. Pretty incredible views.

I was amazed at all the roads through these mountains. Here was one spot where the road curves over a waterfall.

Back at camp, things had dried out a little and we enjoyed some more fun around the fire.

Saturday morning was our turn to cook breakfast. We put on a pancake production with scrambled eggs and 4 different kinds of pancakes. Then we packed up everything as best we could and barely got it all to fit back in the truck-after smashing some things with a hammer (figuratively speaking).

Cousin time!

The last big planned adventure was driving the Ophir pass to cross over and end up in Telluride.

We made it to Telluride and had lunch and aired up the tires. Then we said our goodbyes and hit the road towards home. We stopped for dinner at the Moab Diner.

Then we made it home! What an adventure! Thanks, Stan and Mel, for letting us tag along on one of your camping/jeeping expeditions. Great to be with you Kevin and Bethany.

We recently completed a 50 miler in the High Uintas.  We started at the Uinta Trailhead outside of Neola and Roosevelt Utah and hiked up the Uinta river, up and over to the Chain Lakes, then to Lake Atwood, then on to Kings Peak and Painters Basin, Then back to the Uinta River canyon, and out. It was a fantastic and challenging hike.

Day 1: Here is our crew at the beginning of the hike, energized and ready to go.

Entering the High Uintas Wilderness.

Day 2: We stopped to fish at the 4th Chain Lake. The fish were basically jumping out of the water and grabbing the lure midair. Even I could catch fish at this lake. Wow.

Then we got absolutely dumped on in the middle of a lightning storm as we made our way over the pass and into the Atwood Basin.

Then the weather mostly cleared up for the day and we enjoyed some beautiful scenery on our way to Atwood Lake.

Day 3: We hiked over the pass out of Atwood Basin and into Painters Basin. Then on down. It is an incredibly wide basin. We made camp, lightened our packs and headed for Kings Peak.

Here we are at the top!

Then back down to our camp, where I pumped water on my meditation rock.

This was a lovely place to camp, with an incredible view.

Day 4: Working our way back down via the Uinta River trail, with lots of water crossings and some more rain.

As we got into the canyon, there was hardly a trail on this steep hillside.

Then we got into an area where the river dropped down into a sheer walled gorge, with the trail up on a shelf above for several miles. We found a nice place to camp with fresh spring water and a soft forest floor.

Day 5: Final hike out. Interesting bridge over a river crossing.

And mission accomplished. Everyone made it back safe and sound, with only some sore ankles and a few blisters. Proud of these boys and the Bishop for all their teamwork and effort they put into this hike.

All told, 48 “trail” miles with around 8,000 feet of total elevation gain — but this was a solid 50-miler for sure.

I was asked to share some thoughts in Sacrament Meeting about the 50 miler trip. Follwing is the talk I put together.

Uinta 50 Miler YM Trip Talk

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to help lead our Priest’s on a 50-mile backpacking trip in the High Uintas. Growing up, I did several 50-milers myself. Those experiences were incredibly formative—they taught me how to push through hard things, how to respect the power and peace of nature, and how getting away into the mountains can reset your perspective.

But this time, I got to experience the 50-miler from a very different angle—as a leader.

Let me tell you: it’s an entirely new kind of challenge.

From the beginning, we wanted to do something special. We evaluated a few different locations and eventually settled on Kings Peak—the highest point in Utah—via the Uinta River Trail. This route would be very close to 50 miles in total. To lighten our loads, we initially planned to bring pack horses along. That meant several Wednesday night activities with Brother Bell, where the young men learned how to handle horses, saddle them, care for them, and ride with them. I was impressed how quickly they took to it.

As a trial run, we did an overnight practice hike up Maple Canyon and into Dibble Canyon. We brought three horses. One of them—Socks—was not a fan of water. He and one of the others were terrified of the creek crossings. But the real drama came at the end of the trip. Socks flat-out refused to get into the trailer. We tried everything—carrots, pulling, coaxing, removing another horse to make more room. We even backed the trailer up to a slope so there was no step. Nothing worked.

Finally, we looped a rope through the trailer and hooked it to my truck. Slowly, carefully, we began to pull. Socks resisted with everything he had. In the struggle, his hind leg slipped under the trailer and got a nasty scrape. Brother Bell was heartbroken. He loves his animals, and it pained him that Socks couldn’t understand we were trying to help.

Watching this unfold, I couldn’t help but think of Mosiah 3:19:

“For the natural man is an enemy to God… unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit… and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him.”

Sometimes we’re like Socks—digging in our heels, resisting the very thing that would bring us to safety and healing, because we don’t understand or trust the one guiding us.

After that experience, we were genuinely unsure about bringing horses on the actual 50-miler. We prayed about it, researched the trail, and talked to others. One friend at work told me that they attempted the same route several years ago, but one of their horses broke its leg and had to be put down on a tricky section between Chain Lakes and Atwood Basin. That really gave us pause.

In the end, we decided not to bring the pack horses. It meant everyone had to carry their own gear and food. We had to plan carefully—enough calories to sustain us, but light enough to carry.

Finally, after all the preparations were complete and the time had come, we hit the trail Monday morning. Brother Frandsen joined us for the first couple days and brought and rode a mountain qualified horse he trusted. We hiked up the Uinta River Trail, crossed at Sheep Bridge, and climbed to the Chain Lakes where we camped that night. Beautiful spot.

Tuesday, we slept in a bit and had a lazy morning. Eventually we strapped on our packs to our sore hips and shoulders and headed out. We fished at the 4th Chain Lake—amazing fishing, or I should say, amazing catching. These fish practically jumped out of the lake and caught our spinners mid air. Incredible. But storm clouds rolled in and we had to hustle over Roberts Pass. The heavens opened. Cold rain, lightning, slippery rocks. Then after the downpour, the sun returned and it was a glorious afternoon.  We made it safely to Lake Atwood and found an old camp site likely used back in the early 1900s.

Wednesday, we packed up, said goodbye to Br. Frandsen, and climbed out of Atwood Basin, and crossed into Painter’s Basin. We dropped our gear at a new camp and headed out with just the essentials to summit Kings Peak. We were worried about the weather. As we made it to Anderson pass, the storm we were hiking through broke, and we could see clearings in the distance. We decided it was safe to make a summit to the peak. It was a hard push and required a lot of scrambling over boulders and loose scree, but every young man made it. As a leader on the trip, it was a joyful moment to see the last members of our group crest the final ridge and arrive at the peak. I’ll admit, there were more than one time I was unsure if we were all going to make it!

Thursday, we followed the Uinta River down through multiple creek crossings and bogs. The trail would disappear, and we had to look up and search for cairns—rock markers placed by others to guide the way. You had to keep your eyes up and look for the bigger picture. If you only looked at your feet, it was easy to wander off the trail.

That felt like another gospel metaphor to me. Life is like that—if you only watch what’s immediately in front of you, you can lose the trail. But if you pause, look around, and counsel together, you can find your way again. Thinking Celestial is just like maintaining that bigger picture, and helps elevate our perspective above what’s immediately in front of us.

Later that day, the trail descended into a canyon. Fallen trees, steep slopes—it would’ve been impossible for a horse without some serious on the spot trail clearing. We were grateful that Brother Frandsen went back the way he had come, and we were grateful we didn’t have several pack horses with us. We found a beautiful camp near a spring on a wide forest bench above the river.

Friday, we hiked the final stretch back to the Sheep Bridge, and down to the trailhead. The cars were still there, they started—tender mercies! Then, like all good hikes, it ended with a big burger in Roosevelt before the drive home.

It was a hard hike. Packs were heavy. Feet were sore. But the young men rose to the challenge. They looked out for each other. They eased each others loads. Prayers were offered. We enjoyed morning and evening devotionals. We were spiritually fed.

I think that’s the gift of these trips: they strip away distractions, they stretch you, and they help you see more clearly what matters. It’s hard to not think Celestial.

And sometimes… they remind you that it’s better to follow the Shepherd into the trailer than to fight against the rope.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.